Congratulations on your engagement! Now is the time for you to celebrate being a bride. One of the most exciting parts of this time is shopping for your wedding dress. While I know this process may seem a bit daunting, it’s nothing a well informed bride can’t handle. As a part time bridal stylist I’ve picked up a few tips to help you make dress shopping a breeze!

The Timeline

Make sure to start shopping early! It can take up to eight months to order a gown, so the sooner the better. There are also always options like off the rack for the more laid back bride. If you’re planning to look at several stores, try to pace out your shopping. I wouldn’t recommend more than two appointments a day. As tempting as it may be to visit every shop in one day, you can only try on so many lovely white dresses before they all blend together. So start early and spread out those appointments.

The Entourage

While shopping can be a blast and you may want to bring everyone you love along with you, it’s important to consider whom you ask to help out. Try to pick no more than four people to be your support as you shop. Any more than that and there can be too many opinions. Make sure that everyone you bring with you is someone whose opinions you value. More importantly, make sure they value yours. The people you surround yourself with in an appointment can have a large effect on how it goes.

It’s Not Like TV

I love ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ as much as the next girl, but dress shopping in real life is rarely like the show. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on the dress of your dreams. There’s no magic number of dresses; yours could be the first or the thirtieth. Don’t wait for tears to be the signal to say yes. So rarely do brides cry when they find the one. Instead focus on your initial reaction. This of course will be different for each bride, but it’s often the dress you can’t stop smiling in, or the one you just want to boogie or twirl in, or the dress that you just don’t want to take off because you look and feel so gorgeous in it.

Your First Appointment

When it comes to your first appointment, try to come in with some ideas of dresses that you could picture wearing. Pinterest can be a great tool for this and being able to show your consultant pictures is extremely helpful. Since it can be hard to tell what you truly love without trying anything on though, make sure to pull some dresses in different shapes to see how they look on your body. You may be surprised by what you find! So often brides will come in with a vision in mind and end up leaving the shop with the dress of their dreams in a completely different style.

I hope that these tips can help make shopping for your dress an easy and memorable experience. Have fun ladies!